This invention relates generally to the field of freight handling, and more particularly to an improved container construction suitable for use in shipping fully assembled automobile bodies to an assembly plant for installation of the power train and completion of the automobile.
In the manufacture of automobiles having custom made bodies of foreign manufacture, where total production is at relatively low levels, it is desirable to be able to ship air or sea the assembled body shell from the foreign producer to an assembly plant in this country where the domestically manufactured components are installed to complete the manufacture of the automobile. While the cost of airfreight is relatively high, it is fully justified in terms of reduced part and component inventory, and the ability to have the assembled body on hand according to pre-determined schedule for rapid assembly. By suitable design, it has been possible to manufacture lightweight reusable containers for this purpose which may be employed to ship a completed automobile body in one shipping direction, and component body parts may be shipped in a return direction in the same container. In the first direction, the completed automobile body must be adequately secured to the container bottom wall so that accidental contact of the body panels with the inner surfaces of the wall of the container is prevented. Since it is not possible to anchor the body, except at the bottom surfaces thereof, without marring the body panels, there arises a need to provide an anchoring means which will interconnect an under surface of the body and an upper surface of a lower wall of the container at areas which are not readily accessible once the body is positioned within the container.